My Dumbass Assumptions First
Honestly, I thought I kinda knew why the Mongol Empire went downhill after Genghis Khan. I mean, how hard could it be? Big dude dies, kids fight, boom – collapse. Right? Yeah, I felt pretty smug starting this little project. Figured I’d knock out a simple explainer real quick for the blog.
Grabbed my beat-up laptop and fired up that ancient search bar. Typed in “why mongol empire fell after genghis”. Hit enter feeling like a proper history detective.
Getting Smacked by Reality
Whoa. The search results slapped me silly. Page after page screamed it wasn’t one thing. Not even close. Honestly felt overwhelmed right away. Felt my “quick explainer” idea sinking faster than a rock.
Started scribbling notes frantically on a pad next to my half-empty coffee mug. The messy list just kept growing:
- Too Damn Big: Holy crap, it covered like half the planet! How did they even think about running that? Logistical nightmare.
- Family Feuds On Steroids: Turns out Genghis Khan’s kids and grandkids HATED each other worse than neighbors fighting over a fence. Open warfare between them? Seriously?
- Losing Their Edge: I read something about them settling down, getting soft? Trading horses for palaces? Didn’t sound like the scary horse lords anymore.
- Plague Party: Oh yeah, remember the Black Death? Apparently it crashed Mongol picnics too. Wiped out huge numbers.
- Everyone Else Wised Up: Seems conquered places finally learned how to fight back against Mongol tactics. No more easy wins.
My simple explanation was buried under this pile. Felt kinda stupid, honestly. Had to rework my whole angle.
Trying to Make Sense of the Mess
Spent way longer than planned just reading. Piled up browser tabs like it was a competition. Got lost in tangents about Kublai Khan trying to invade Japan (twice! and failed!) and other successors squabbling.
The deeper I dug, the clearer it got: No single “oops” moment killed it. This empire crumbled slowly, rotting from the inside while the outside world pushed back hard. Think I paced around my tiny kitchen muttering “it’s complicated” at least five times.
Finally narrowed it down to what felt like the main gut punches:
- Internal Wars: His own descendants literally tearing chunks off the empire to fight each other. Self-sabotage central.
- Overextension: Seriously, the map was insane. Zero chance they could govern that sprawl effectively long-term. Like trying to manage a hundred angry badgers.
- Softening Up: Rulers in places like China and Persia got crazy rich and luxurious. Lost touch with the tough nomadic roots that made them scary in the first place.
- Black Death: Just wiped out populations and resources. Bad timing on top of everything else.
Felt exhausted, but it clicked. This wasn’t a light switch flipping off. It was a house burning down room by room while the family argued inside.
Putting My Humble Pie Thoughts Together
Scrapped my “simple facts” title in my head. Felt misleading now. Settled on the downfall being a messy combo platter.
Started typing my take: Focused on that internal fighting as the poison pill. The impossible size making it unmanageable. The luxury turning rulers soft. The plague adding the final kick. Pounded it out, trying to keep it real and admit my own dumb initial thoughts. Tbh, ended up feeling more like a “what I learned the hard way” post.
Hit publish feeling less like a know-it-all and more like someone who just escaped a history maze. That simple explainer? Yeah, didn’t happen. Reality is way messier, and honestly, more interesting. Now I gotta go, think I burned my noodles while wrestling with Kublai Khan’s invasion plans.
